Pets sometimes attack people and injure or kill them. Should pet owners be held responsible? Should dangerous pets be kept on leads or muzzled in public? Should dangerous pets be put down?

English Checkerpet: a domestic or tamed animal that people have (usually in their house) for companionship or pleasure
to hold (somebody) responsible for: to consider that somebody is the primary cause of
behaviour (AmE behavior): the way in which a person or animal acts or responds to something
lead: (mainly BrE) a strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog or other animal
to muzzle: to fit a guard over an animal's mouth to stop it biting
to put down: to kill an animal because it is sick, injured, old or dangerous

Last edited by TalkingPoint on Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:36 am, edited 2 times in total.

I have a lovely dog when i was a kid,long tail with puff hair,deeply i loved it.It never attact people unless he felt to be in danger. However,It was killed by a young boy because of my dog happened to bite him

Pets are used in all parts of the world to help others. And the majority of the pets in the world are well trained to serve mankind in one way or another.

The biggest problem with some pets, are not the animals themselves, but the owners. Owners ho do not take responsibility to train their pets as well as keeping their pets under control. The responsibility lies with the owner when a pet injures another living thing; not the pet.

Keeping animals as pets is not a common phenomenon with us Africans consequently it would be quite for us to have these pets muzzled or with leads,because we fear it might harm somebody and put us into unnecessary problems.
It is important however that owner of pets train them adequately if they don,t feel like having them muzzled or with leads.

In my opinion it depends on the situation. For example, if my dog had attacked and killed Mother Teresa, then I should have been held responsible. But if my dog attacked and killed George Bush Jnr (or Snr for that matter) then George Bush should be held responsible (posthumously, of course) and I should be given a Nobel prize.

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I apppreciate the humour of Prometheus, and I'm agree with him.

I have got a dog (a retriever), It's 8 years.
Each days evening, we walk together an half hour.
When we were in the street, I put the lead arround his neck, and it take the other end of the lead between its jaws.
Always, it stay near me.I have a great trust in it.

I think that depends of the dog and of course of the owner.
But in any cases the owner must be aware responsable.[/url]

I think that people must not take fighting dogs as pets. Or these owners must be very responsible for special training of their dogs and watch them very carefully. Owners who don't look after their dangerous dogs good enough must be punished (a jail is crying about them...).
I have a 8-years-old dog. Great Dane. This is a very friendly, very calm dog, good trained in a dog school, and I trust her very much. But I never allow her to run without lead if anybody is around me. People can be just scaried.
I do not understand why some people give a lot of freedom to Bullterrier, Bullmustiff, Staffordshire Bull Terrier or Akita dog only because they (owners) think that their dogs are kind and friendly (They say:"He is 5 years old, and we never had any accident with him"). Stupid people! Don't they know that they shouldn't trust these dogs? Nobody knows what they will decide next minute! Before buying a dog, everybody should ask, "Am I the person for this dog?"
Every dog can become dangerous in bad hands. Owners of big dogs should give particular attention to their pets.

I am against killing of old dogs. May be only if they(dogs) are paralized, I can understand the owners.

hi there. firt of all i want to thank the members and the stuff of the English club for there services to us, i want to say that may english is improving.
about the topic having animals as pets is a good idea in one way and bad in the other. We can use animals in hunting and security as dogs can do or having fun with them or helping the blind peaple to week the street. on the other hand they can cast alot of diseases for the oner and harm others.
in conclusion animals can be good in somethings and bad in others but in my opinon i thinks that they are useful to us
peace yow

I don't have a pet, but I think it's all on the owners education.
Sometimes, pets can be dangerous, but humans are even more dangerous.
Governements should improve actions to educate owners in order to prevent inappropiate behavior.

Hello Everyone:
"Pets," companion animals, reflect the nature (behavior) of the person taking care of the animal. If the animal if raised gently they will behave gently. Almost all animals who are kept as "pets" will not harm others if they are being taken care of properly. It is the owners RESPONSIBILTY and duty to do this. Animals have feelings and can feel pain. So, please, take care of animals, give them shelter, feed them, and they will be nice to everyone.

the owners should be responsible in case their pets harm people. in my opinion pets are animals , and animal is not a mankind. However tamed they are or how well they are trained the are still animal, and they sometimes loose their good behaviour, cos human being even sometimes loose their mind. So whey they are out, they should be under control of their owners. Problems occured due to the pets, it's the owners responsibility.

Shanghai Phillip wrote:Hello Everyone:"Pets," companion animals, reflect the nature (behavior) of the person taking care of the animal. If the animal if raised gently they will behave gently. Almost all animals who are kept as "pets" will not harm others if they are being taken care of properly. It is the owners RESPONSIBILTY and duty to do this. Animals have feelings and can feel pain. So, please, take care of animals, give them shelter, feed them, and they will be nice to everyone.

Hello!
I totally agree with you! Pets are wonderful creatures....but clearly, not everyone should be allowed to have one. If something bad happens, It is the human's responsability, not the animal's.If one has had the pleasure of bonding with one's pet, one understands the joy and the worries its company carries.
People who do not like animals should`nt own any.
I totally agree with the quote: "Children are for people who cannot have pets."

I have a pet dog, she wouldn't hurt a fly. She has never bitten or scratched anyone on purpose. However, like all animals she will attack if threatened. If a normally friendly pet is abused, it will turn against that person who abuses it. There are some animals that are aggressive in nature, though. Some breeds are used for protection. These should definately be kept muzzled. There have been to many instances when a "pet" pit bull or doberman bit or maulled a person. In those cases the owners were responsible. As to having pets put away, only if they have rabies.

I thank all the English Club members for welcoming and making one of them.

I want to say that animals tame or wild are originally created to be subject unto man. The ones man is able to tame supose to be a helper and friendly to man.

The dangerous ones like dog, snake, lion, etc. should be guided. The ones that need leads be given leads or bridle and the ones that should be chained be chained. If by any reason any of these animals grows wild and unfriendly, cursing accidents, the owner should be blamed .

Hi everyone!!
Definitely this is a wonderful time to tell you that even our small or big pets are with us all the time, they feel, they feel hungry and sometimes angry though so, for this reason, it is very important that we as part of their family are nice to them and of course they will appreciatte that too and respond in the same way. bye, bye, Silvia from Mexico

In my opinion the owner should be responsible for his own Pet. Every body must understand the behaviour of his pet. If the pet is dangerous the pet should be muzzeld. Any way I don't like to have freindship with animals because I can establish freind shipp with people.